Message, manner and art

I went to an exhibition about Street Art recently in Coventry which was, to my surprise, quite interesting. In addition, the art gallery included a museum incorporating some pieces from the 18^th century to now. 

The street art exhibition was focusing on artists such as Banksy (arguably the most famous of them), Miss Tick, Sickboy or Pure Evil. These pseudonyms already manifest a statement about the authors and their wish to remain anonymous. The wishes of some artists to remain absolutely anonymous like Banksy might reveal some form of existentialism thought about just being an average person in the world. This practice is normal considering the nature of their works and its illegality. Indeed, graffiti is their main modus-operandi (but not the only one) and can be found, as it name implies, anywhere in a city. This is one of the main characteristic of street art and it reflects the desire of the authors to use the public space so they can reach the public and thus diffuse their designs or ideas. 

This idea of using the street as a tool also reflect the fact that they feel they cannot be seen in regular art galleries, mainly due to the elitism present there, and also probably for financial and time management reason. This has given way to the development of an underground culture which has been appealing to many. A lot of these graffiti bring with them a political message often encapsulated with some dark humour. They often appear to be criticising governments, traditions and denounce the unfairness of the world. Indeed, the use of opposite symbols in the same work or their falsifications is a recurrent technique leading to a caricatured scene.

I find the dark humour, facetiousness and creativity of these artists funny and interesting. Yet, seeing these works in an art gallery is making feel uneasy about the motives of displaying these already public works in a different place. Is this art a way for them to cry out their feeling of unjustice? Is this wish to remain anonymous genuine or do they just want to be famous in another way? Or is their seemingly opposition to traditions and government a genuine critique of their time or a childish idealist caprice? These artists probably do not care about how people judge them. I guess that my main bite against them is more born out of a weariness of art or rather what is called art and the whole elitism behind it. In particular contemporary art and its interpretation which I believe  is quite grotesque and a bad satire of the art world (especially when it comes to price).

Thus, when I read and look at street art, which is supposed to be radically opposed to capitalism and by proxy to contemporary art, how it is used, displayed and talked about in general; I cannot help but think about contemporary art and that, although street art tries to be different in its approach and in its aspiration, people still long for popularity and a desire to be different which in the end make them very similar. I, for one, could just appreciate art whether it be street art, contemporary or anything else just for the aesthetic aspect of the works and would gladly ignore any critical messages conveyed in most of them. I do not condemn the fact that art can be used to convey a message but rather, the manner in which it is done and its genuineness.

-Croissant

A summer at the Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Art in London offers the possibility to see two exhibitions this summer: Sargent and the Sea and the Summer Exhibition.



John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) is an American expatriate painter, popular for his portraits. However this exhibition do not focus on this part of his life. Indeed, the aim of the exhibition is to “demonstrate the role that the sea played in Sargent’s early development. As it name implies, focuses on its works about seascape and marine, reminds me a lot of impressionists and Barbizon school, notably Eugène Boudin. Mainly because they painted the same subject: sea, coast and beaches and boats sceneries involving mainly fishermen and fisherwomen rather than bourgeois on vacation and the effect of climatic conditions on the seascape. Sea storms seem to have inspired him which is unsurprising given that Sargent’s inspirations have also included John Mallory Turner. His travels during his youth, in Europe, seem to follow a fashionable path amongst the painters of the time. He went in Brittany and Normandy, which were popularised thanks to the development of the railways, to Capri and Naples under the shadow of the Vesuvio and close to the buried Pompeii and through various ports and harbours like Venice in between. In addition, he also painted during his transatlantic travel which is more unusual. As I said earlier, if his style was reminiscent of previous and contemporary prestigious painters, the way he depicted the sea was something of a novel as he tried to avoid representing the limit between the sky and the ocean.

On a side note (slightly off-topic and probably ludicrous I reckon), paintings of naked kids brought to me the question: Does painting young naked kid would seem paedophile nowadays? I do not know if Sargent painted them directly on the beach or from memory, most likely in his studio, but I wonder how an artist painting that kind of subjects now would be criticised and worse, if he would be pursued for paedophilia. Yet, in this case it is art. I am not saying that paintings displaying that kind of explicit content should be banned but I find this discrepancy ironic. On a different subject, there was also an other exhibition at the Royal Academy and as I could get in for free, I did not mind checking it out.

The Summer Exhibition 2010 is quite a fun exhibition where unknown and more famous artists show their works of the year and where people can buy them. It is the world’s largest open submission contemporary art exhibition, now in its 242nd edition. A leaflet with the price is provided. There are works for the taste of everybody on various medium: painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, architecture and film. It is a rather large exhibition as it occupies a little less than a dozen of rooms which are defined by a common topic. Some artists are members of the Royal Academy and some are not. Although, most of them seem to be English by their name and their number, according to the Guardian, seems to reach 11,000 which seems a lot to me. 1,100 would be closer to the reality I suppose (here is a list of the exhibitor last year, I could not find it for this year.)




Overall , the Summer Exhibition is a good opportunity to see new things and to develop a taste in art that one would not be naturally drawn to. Some of them are really weird like this video of a woman licking some hair (i couldn’t figure if it was an animal or the head of someone..) for 3 minutes, and I think that the price was around £800. But that is what makes this display fun and entertaining.

-C

Art Hop

I have recently attended an art function in my hometown called Art Hop. Art galleries twice a month open their doors to the culturally curious. The artists are on the premises to talk about their pieces and there are refreshments provided at every location. It is an amazing idea for the culturally starved region and the art that is produced has been of high caliber however in this town there is always something wrong...

The event takes place on the first and third Thursday of every month between 5pm and 9pm. Though this is a fun mid-week entertainment opportunity how regular can attendance or motivation be? I think the premise is good but those hours are difficult to accommodate if the person is working. Unless the person plans to only visit one venue, this is quite restricted.

These venues are also quite small--artist studios or galleries or just exhibits in parks. They are nice to look around but as they are fairly small it would be more reasonable to attend multiple locations and exhibits. The problem here is that they are all scattered throughout the city. Though certain areas are more concentrated than others the need to drive between venues is a large deterrent to attending such functions. Further, a large portion of area residents do not own cars. This is discluding to large portions of the population (probably the population that might benefit the most).

My next note for improvement--artists and sales. This event has turned into more of a sales event for budding artists than exhibits. My most recent participation involved two venues: a watercolor exhibit (with images inspired by Georgia O'Keefe) and an sculpture exhibit (largely tea sets). The artists were on hand to discuss their pieces and it was quite interesting yet, I would rather peruse their work in peace. I felt compelled to ask them questions because they were excited to have anyone looking at their work. Even more so did I feel like I needed to by something because they are standing over me as I look. I felt uncomfortable especially when there were things I did not like (mainly the watercolors). Though artists need recognition and sales, I think that making this event revolve around sales will limit people that legitimately like looking at art.

Though I like the idea there needs to be more appropriate time for the event, closer venues, or shuttle transportation options, and there needs to be a greater emphasis on art education and appreciation than sales. This area is greatly in need of cultural advancement and growth and this idea is moving in the right direction but it unfortunately neglects people from the start.

Renaissance Drawing at the British Museum: from Fra Angelico to Leonardo

I recently went to the British Museum to see the exhibition about drawing during the Renaissance in Italy. As I have never been that interested in the subject I nevertheless, was interested in the historical background and was looking for some answers. Fortunately this exhibition was answering my questions while featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Angelico, Jacopo and Gentile Bellini, Botticelli, Carpaccio, Filippo Lippi, Mantegna, Michelangelo, Verrocchio and Titian. In order to gather all these artists in one place, the British Museum pooled into its own collection and into the Florence based Uffizi collection. The Renaissance was a period, starting in Italy in the 15th century and then in Europe, which saw an intense revival of the classical art and learning from the Greek and Roman civilisations. Hugo Chapman, the curator of the exhibition, notices that “marble figures like Bacchus encouraged artists to recognise the sensuality and beauty of the human body. The sculpted Bacchus presents an idealised vision of the perfect male body.” Indeed, amongst these drawings we can see that the artists, such as Leonardo or Raphael, started to draw different subjects of the day-to-day life and that their portraits were focusing on the body and the face of their subjects.

The exhibition begins by focusing its attention on the innovation that developed the profession of artists: the paper. In fact, it points that the Chinese invention of papermaking had been brought to Europe via the Islamic world. The invention of the printing press in Germany in the 1450s gave a huge impetus for papermaking, above all in Italy which was the most literate and urbanised region of Europe. Renaissance paper was handmade from cloth fibres (not wood pulp as today) obtained from old clothes, sails and ropes. To complete the explanation, a video shows how paper was made and visitors are invited to touch different types of papers to feel the differences. This is obviously a detail, but it is a good way to put into its historical context this artistic breakthrough.

The exposition then proceeds to show the evolution of artists’ techniques through the ages and how important were the various Italian city-states. Starting with pioneers religious men such as Fra Angelico or Lorenzo Monaco, the spectators' attentions are then focused on the main cities. Florence, with mainly the Medici and the Tornabuoni amongst others, has been one of the first city were the Renaissance artists could evolve from religious subjects and thus became a pole for them. The powerful Italian families wanted to use their talents to express their wealth and leave behind them a glorious picture. The Vatican was also another major player as it attracted artists such as Raphael or Michelangelo from Florence. There, the most successful of them would receive the most important commission and be able to impose their own style and thus fulfil their ambition as being the best artist. Leonardo Da Vinci’s career, apart from being one the quintessential Renaissance man, shows the important cities and families at this time as he worked for no less than Florence’s Medici, Milan’s Sforza, the Doge of Venice and the Vatican and then Francois 1er of France. However, his career does not reflect the way Renaissance was present in all the Italian peninsula as many lesser cities also employed lesser artists.

 Although I have never been a huge fan of this period artistically speaking, I can still appreciate the precision of these drawings and this exhibition allow the visitors to observe the artists’ talent with their pencil and sometimes even compare these with the finite paints, notably Lorenzo Monaco’s tryptich. The historical side, was an interesting side of the exhibition, showed that artists had a huge ambition and how through this war between them the style of the Renaissance evolved progressively from a religious theme to everything that the artists wanted to show.

-C

Strange visitors

While walking the streets of London, one can notice curious elephant statues sitting in various positions and sporting different colours. I thought at first that it was an exhibition of some special kind and I really like the concept. It reminded me of the statues of Anthony Gormley in New York put up for the Event Horizon, previously talked about here. I, personally, cannot remember seeing a lot of these exhibitions showcased. I could recall La Terre vue du Ciel, a photography exhibition in Paris inspired by the eponymous book, about Yann Arthus-Bertrand's pictures taken from an helicopter all around the world.

However, these exhibitions do not match the sheer size of this one.  Indeed, 250 pachyderms, painted in unique colors and schemes by the same number of artists and designers, are scattered over various inner borough of London, sometimes sitting lonely, sometimes sitting in group.  It is not either an exhibition per se as these sculptures are being auctioned and the street is their showcase. The charity Elephant Family, created in 2002, is responsible for such an original initiative. It aims to protect as its name indicate elephants and more precisely the Asian variant, pointing that in 100 years its population decreased by 90% from 250000 to 25000 beasts. To do so, the foundation has been create a natural reserve for them and other “services” susceptible to help them in their task.

This public auction is not their first time as they did it already in 2007 in Rotterdam, 2008 in Antwerp, in 2009 in Amsterdam, this year in London and Emmen Bergen and next year Copenhagen. Given the amount of parades that happen in Netherland and around, but it appears that the main organisation is based in there. Nevertheless, wherever this charity is from is not really the important point. London's auction ends on the 4th of July. Prices start at around £5000 which is to me not that expensive, although right now working in an auction house does not really help to keep a decent vision of the world as it is an environment where prices are crazy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this concept as it makes people enjoy the city in which they are if they want to see these elephants. I liked the fact to randomly see these sculptures in the street and the discrepancy between their own nature as exotic animal painted in various schemes and colour and the urban environment; I found the concept really good. I also like the fact that it is a charity rather than a regular exhibition probably because as a charity it is always heart-warming to see such an innovative idea in the hand of a non-for-profit organisation. It seems to be a win-win situation for the charity as it does not need to rent some space in a museum to exhibit the statues and for the city it is a good PR campaign. I hope that in the future more of these will be possible, however not to the extent of becoming hype so that it does not lose its charm and here is the fine line not to cross.

-C

San Francisco, 2nd Part

The second part of my article on San Francisco focuses more on its museums and POIs. As I said earlier, the city is quite large and as a result a lot of the museums and other interesting parts of the city are located miles away from each other; indeed, unlike Washington where everything is nearly concentrated around the Mall, San Francisco requires that the tourist, or visitor, to benefit from a certain endurance.

During my long treks in the city, I came across the Palace of Fine Arts, built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific exhibition and reconverted later into a theatre. I thought that given its name, it would be one of the arts museums of San Francisco and, curious, I instead entered in the Exploratorium: a museum dedicated to the kids and explaining different laws about nature. I was a tad disappointed at first but it is a lot of fun for the kids and I found myself watching for minutes a video of a marble guiding games.

The DeYoung was the first “big” museum I went in, and with big museum comes the big crowd. It was even bigger as it was one of the first of an exhibition about the masterpieces from the musée d’Orsay in Paris.  long queue was to be passed and bearing with the manners of a lot of old ladies that pretended to be heavily involved in the art world was another worry. The rooms allocated to the exhibition did not leave a lot of space for a true appreciation of the works and it was even reduced by the sheer amount of people that were cramping them. On the other hand its restaurant offered a menu à la carte and in French (s’il vous plait!) which was really fitting to the eyes of any Americans going to a museum. The park, nearby, were exhibiting some sculpture that were abstract and thus open to any interpretation. The museum is located in a national park, the Golden Gate Park, and as a result in a green environment which is rather pleasant.

On our way to Sausalito, we (your croissant and his peanut butter) stopped to admire the shape of one of the icon of the city: the Golden Gate Bridge. A parking has been built in order for the people to stop and enjoy the sight which is quite amazing. Indeed, all the dimensions involved are massive, from the bridge and its arches to the straight that it crosses. In addition, it provides a view on the Pacific which opens any possibility of travel on it. Nonetheless,  the best spot is located on the other side of this parking lot and is known of only few people as it is located in the former military base of Presidio. There, the view is even more grandiose and the travellers can observe the coast, the Golden Gate and a bit of the bay.

Sausalito is a little posh sea town nestled in the bay and close to the golden gate. It offer a stunning view on San Francisco and has the advantage of not being too far from it and yet at a reasonable distance to enjoy a quiet life. Indeed, from what I have seen of the city, the houses and the shops reminds of one of these charming towns on the Riviera: not too touristy but classy, not too pretentious and really pleasant. The atmosphere is nearly village like. We walked along the marina which is big an only filled with boats that could round the world and then went to a sea food restaurant built on a pier: the Spinnaker, the view is even more stunning as people eat directly on the sea and waiting a quarter of minutes to benefit from a table next to the windows would be a crime to avoid: in a word it is a gem.

The museum of the Legion of Honor is another museum of classic arts in San Francisco. It is far from the down town but it location is probably one of the best I have ever seen. It overlook the city, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay and the Pacific coast all at once. The museum is, unlike the modern building of the DeYoung, a reproduction to the ¾ of the musée de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris and is thus a classic building. It was built to honor the fallen Californian soldiers in the Great War. I was surprised to see a statue, amongst others, of Jeanne d’Arc at the entrance, although that was not the first I noticed in the country. The collections in the museum is classic like the building and does not bear anything special bar a lot of sculptures from Rodin, including the Thinker. However, I enjoyed the porcelain collection and its explanation about the diverse factories built in Europe. The good point about this museum is that there are less people around and everything is quieted which made my visit really enjoyable. The restaurant, also offering an a la carte menu and in French (aussi!), added to the charm of the museum. An exhibition about the Impresionnist (again!) was in preparation and I am pretty sure that when it will open the place will be bustling with people and it will not be as charming as it was when I went.

I, then, decided to walk on the trails on the coast as the weather was exceptional. The environment of San Francisco reminds me of the south of France with its pines and climate. So from the Legion of Honor, I went to Sutro baths via a trail which replaced an old tramway line. The view was needless to say beautiful and several bench were present in order to make the walk the more agreeable possible. Sutro Baths, built in 1896, used to be “an extravagant public bathhouse envisioned and developed by the eccentric one-time mayor of San Francisco, Adolph Sutro.” The place burned down in 1966 and now the ruins offer a picturesque point of view on the ocean. The Cliff House let people sip a glass of champagne while admiring the vista. From there, one can overlook Ocean Beach and its long strip of sand.

My last stop was the infamous prison of Alcatraz. I first went on a boat cruise around the bay and to Angel Island, the Ellis Island of the west. Indeed, it is the place where mainly Chinese immigrants were parked before entering or not the country. It was once hosting a Union base which was never under attack during the Secession war. It is now part of a natural park and a place of relaxation for city-dwellers. The boat then took me to the island of Alcatraz. The island in the middle of the bay offers a nice point of view. It used to be like Angel Island part of a defense system for San Francisco. The visit of the prison is quiet short and I believe that its reputation makes it more impressive when it was just a little prison in an old fortress based on a little rock. I believe that the prisoners incarcerated in the prison were its biggest “achievement” and apart from some quotes from Al Capone and others, not much is said about them. Their cells are presented as such with some little commentary but no real history is provided, it is rather anecdotic. To be fair though, an audio guide and movies were completing the visit, things that I did not have the luxury to  hear and watch..On the other hand, the trip on the boat and the islands themselves offered plenty of opportunity for any photograph.

My experiences in San Francisco tended to tell me that it is a quite complete city compared to the others I have visited. Not as urban as New York, but really enjoyable and much more outdoor activities orientated if less “intellectual”, I think that it is a fair trade-off and I believe it is an advantageous one compared to New York if it is smartly balanced.

-C

New York

After a long flight I arrived in New York shattered. Indeed, while crossing the Atlantic with United Airlines was expected to be long, the connection between Washington DC and New York was nearly as lengthy. After hearing American people complaining about the poor quality of the French service, I found that a bit rich! Anyway, after a long trip a bed was all I wanted and I had it so I will not complain too much. It also gave me the opportunity to observe the American people in the airports lobbies and I could not resist but wonder why a huge majority of these respectable American ladies had short hair and were not really feminine as if past 40 they were told to look as unattractive as possible, odd...

The Guggenheim Museum was my first stop in the city and it harboured the Haunted exhibition. It represented a series of pictures representing the past and symbolising melancholy and a haunting feeling due to the past. According to the website, the explanation is that “much of contemporary photography and video seems haunted by the past, by ghostly apparitions that are reanimated in reproductive media, as well as in live performance and the virtual world. By using dated, passé, or quasi-extinct stylistic devices, subject matter, and technologies, this art embodies a melancholic longing for an otherwise irrecuperable past.” This painting somehow touched me more than then rest, probably because it represent a mysterious landscape and that I also like the way the colours are applied. Several exhibitions were present along this one but only the Thannhauser Collection retained my attention. It gathers a collection of classic modern painters including most of the Impressionists yet remains brief, a feat appreciated by your servitor.

I then turned my look on the nearby Metropolitan museum of Arts: a comprehensive museum, rather a supermuseum, which regroups a vast array of artefacts from different civilisations in its permanent exhibitions. Someone could say that it is a clone of the Louvres, however its location and different collection makes it unique and nearly on par with the biggest museum in the world (it felt good to write that!) but makes it probably second to none bar this exception. It possesses galleries about various prime civilisations such as the Oceanic people with a nice collection of mask and the classic antique Greek, Roman and Egyptian galleries which boasts the impressive temple of Dendur from 15 B.C. in one of its room which also offer a view on Central Park. Its collection of classical paintings is also remarkable thanks to the actions of generous donators. It includes most of the Impressionists painters, the Flemish Masters such as Vermeer, the Spanish with Goya, a few English painting of notably Turner and Constable and of course the Italian painters from the Renaissance to later.
On a sidenote, I was happily enthusiast with Arkhip Kuindzhi's Red Sunset on the Dnieper which featured a vivid view over the taiga. Obviously it is only a part of the collections presented by the museum and it is to note that some reconstitution of parlour of various period and style are also present notably in the American Wing. Some American painters, notably Frederick Church through his Heart of the Andes, were talented landscapists.

As for the temporary exhibitions, I decided to avoid the Picasso exhibition because there are simply too many of them around the world and they get boring and mainly because his various styles do not inspire me. Instead, I went to see the art of illumination, which is under represented. It was about the Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry; not to be confused with the later work and masterpiece Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry. These illuminations represented “a book of hours—a prayer book made for private use in the intimate devotion to the Virgin Mary that grew popular toward the end of the Middle Ages. In addition, it also includes seven “picture book” cycles that tell stories through a succession of full-page illuminations, with text limited to a few lines in alternating red and blue ink. These sections, which were added by the Limbourg brothers in the later stages of the manuscript’s production, show the artists’ increasingly developed power. The brief texts included on the pages are not devotional, like the texts in a typical book of hours, but rather relate stories from the lives of the saints.” Magnifying glasses were available in order to admire these rare objects and the presentation was quite good; in addition the exhibition was not too long which is always a plus in my book.

After being in museums for so many hours, I decided to walk and ventured quickly through Grand Central Terminal and its vast hall with an astronomical painting on its ceiling. I opted to walk toward Battery Park at the bottom of Manhattan and went to see the site of the 9/11 attacks and the remains of the World Trade Centre filled with cranes and other construction and public works installations, Ground Zero, bound to be replaced by a tower recalling the event, the Statue of the Liberty and Castle Clinton and went back via Broadway.

At Madison square, I noticed the Event Horizon (thanks to luck and observation, as it is not indicated.I thought that I saw most of the statues, six foot two cast iron sculptures, but I obviously missed most of them as I counted six of them instead of the fifteenish as shown of this map...) These sculptures of person are supposed to make people aware of how to deal with the conception of cities and growing urban population. Instead, some people thought they were real person about to commit suicide!


I continued my journey in Manhattan and came across the Flatiron building and last but not least: the famed Time Square which was awfully overcrowded and reminded me of the busy sidewalk of the boulevard Haussman near the Printemps and Galleries Lafayette and Oxford Circus in London, some places that are best to avoid, as a result I quickly looked at the giant boards.

Overall, I walked for around 25km and feel humbled by the sheer size of the Big Apple. At first, I thought that Paris was bigger but then I remembered that it was only Manhattan and not the whole city. On the other hand, I wonder if the other parts of New York are that interesting but I would feel too disappointed as there are always some parts of a city which are less appealing.

-C

Turner et ses peintres 24/02/2010 to 24/05/2010 at the Grand Palais

Weeks after the opening of the Turner et ses peintres exhibition at the Grand Palais, and weeks after pondering whether I should wait in the queue or wait till no one would queue for it, I decided to do the first. The exhibition aims to explain by whom Turner was inspired and how he tried to create his own style.

 

Whether the exhibition was good or not, i just considered that waiting for about an hour in the shadow was a tad overextended. Even the people who booked their tickets had to wait for a certain amount of time. In addition, there were plenty of people in the museum, a good reason to make us wait outside I guess. If it means that the exhibition was successful on a frequentation aspect, it still did not improve my visit. Indeed, I felt that the room were packed and obliged to skip the first rooms so I could enjoy the next ones with less people in.

Besides, I felt that the explanations concerning the comparisons made between the paintings of Turner and the ones he was inspired from were underdeveloped and that the paintings were not always easy to compare. They were sometimes hung on the opposite wall due to their size and thus it was like playing “Where is Wally?” in order to spot the differences. A simple explanation would be given telling us that there, Turner used the techniques of this artist and here Turner was inspired by so-and-so.

On the other hand, the concept of the exhibition is interesting. The possibility to compare his masterpieces to other’s like Claude Lorrain (vaporous light effect and trees framing antique sceneries), Canaletto (painting Venice and improving his skills), and Rembrandt (painting light contrasting strongly with the darkness and pastoral sceneries) is an excellent way to explain Turner’s art and how he chose his path. Indeed, Turner chose for himself a pantheon of his favourite masters and from there inspired himself from their techniques and subjects and developed them to suit his own style: a landscape painter influenced by a mix of Flemish, French and Italian schools with a strong focus on painting light in a transcendent way.His rivals in England, such as Constable  or Bonington , were also his associates and also provided him with a lot of ideas as we can see all along the exhibition.

The Grand Palais website offers a virtual tour of the exhibition  in French and other media materials to complete it. The Tate gallery has an excellent website  with numerous sections dedicated to Turner and where it is possible to virtually visit the gallery established by Turner close to his home in London.

Being enthusiastic about both the representation of landscape and light, Turner hold a special place for me, on the other hand I found some of his paintings paradoxically too bright nor did I appreciate the subjects. If the museum was more spacious, I think that this exhibition would be much more enjoyable but it is hardly easy to regulate a successful exhibition besides having bigger rooms to hold more people. Nonetheless, it remains a comprehensive display of Turner's art and answer its problematic in a clear manner.

-C

Expressionists and Fauvists at the Marmottan museum

I went this weekend to see the exhibition on the Expressionists and the Fauvists at the Marmottan museum in Paris. The museum includes paintings by Claude Monet and some of his personnal effects such as his glasses or his paint palette. Other Impressionists like Berthe Morisot or Pierre Auguste Renoir are also represented. In addition, it also features some works from the Napolean Era. The museum itself is located in the old hotel of the Marmottan brothers in the XVIth arrondissement, it remains a nice place with its own garden and it is right in front of the Ranelagh park.

As for the exhibition, I was not impressed by the Expressionists and the Fauvists. It represented the collection from the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal. The expressionists were mainly represented by the two German artistic schools: Die Brücke and NKVM (Munich New Artist's Association). The most notable artists  included in the collection were Otto Dix, Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky. According to Wikipedia (don’t hit me because of the source..), the Expressionism "refers to art that expresses intense emotion. It is arguable that all artists are expressive but there is a long line of art production in which heavy emphasis is placed on communication through emotion. Such art often occurs during time of social upheaval." Indeed, the colours that they employ plus the style was most of the time making, for most of the painters, some unhappy compositions. It is fair to recognise that the times were not the most joyful, especially during the first quarter of the century in Europe. 

I was not a big fan of them in general because of this feeling of misery that they tried to convey in most of the cases, I do not like painting that use a majority of brown and dark colours and the style is not harmonious; finally the expressionists often paint portraits, as expressions are best exhibited through portraits I assume, and I prefer landscapes. Notably Otto Dix and his portrait of the so-called Leonie, poor woman...On the other hand the work of Franz Marc is much more lively thank to the heavy use of bright colour in a balanced manner, especially with der Blaue Fuchs.

As for the Fauvists, a group of early 20th century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism (Wikipedia again.. ). I do not like them either and notably the liberal use of the colours. I find it sometimes a bit flashy but I cannot generalize and I guess i would appreciate some of their work although I have never been eager to look for them.

In the end, and this may be derived from my “classic” education, I prefer the Impressionists or the others before them, notably Turner. I prefer the themes that they painted and their colours and also their style which I find to be a bit more realistic

-C